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Experts

31-Mar-08

These are very hectic and thought provoking days. In times like these the media is full of experts. It seems their numbers grow from crisis to crisis. Well, I am not an official expert but then again I was not wrong about my gut feeling about what was right for the country and where events would lead, so I feel I have as much right as any of the many authorities telling us yet again why we are again in a mess and how things will turn out.

I am not a prophet and not even an expert but an avid observer and I do posses a normal memory. I remember the joy and how Prime Minister Barak beamed with self satisfaction at the great coup he pulled off six years ago. Imagine the sweet sense of victory as the Israeli army fled Lebanon in the middle of the night, leaving mounds of equipment and personal effects behind for the enemy to plunder. Now, that certainly sent them and all our neighbors a strong message didn't it?! Our South Lebanese allies were left in the dust. but we were assured that if Hezbollah dare cross that border or shoot just one bullet, we will respond with all our might... And all the experts assured us this was cause for celebration. Somehow I did not feel like partying when I saw the tanks cross our border leaving our allies abandoned and Hezbollah replace them on the fence. But I am not an expert.

Perhaps because I am not an expert, I was not one of the revelers when our sophisticated intellectuals celebrated Mr. Afafat's arrival from Tunisia. Maybe I missed something when I thought it was not a good idea to create the Palestinian Authority and arm them. Who knows , perhaps I lacked the depth of perception to grasp the deeper meaning of the term "peace partner". I should then have later understood that if Arafat was perhaps a small disappointment, Abu Mazen would certainly protect us from the really bad guys. Why am I so skeptical?

I probably am missing a doctorate in expert affairs as I did not see how rewarding terror by handing over the victims' homes to the ones that shelled them for years would teach them that shelling won't work. Hadn't the Hezbollah learned their lesson? What could I not see? Why did I not grasp the advantage and wisdom of the policy of restraint? Restraint vis a vis our enemies that is. Restraint vis a vis the demonized "settlers" was not in the cards. . In Amona, Israel's democracy was saved. And all I saw was bloodied unsophisticated patriotic Jews

I heard an interview the other day by General, Dr., Yom Tov Samia, former commander of the Gaza theater of operations. He claimed that we should have not restrained ourselves in the face of the provocations from Lebanon or from Gaza since the expulsion of the Jewish communities which he supports. He emphatically said that he does not care about Jewish settlements or the "Land of our Fathers" He is interested in security. I thought about that statement. How far gone are we? I actually came here only because it is the Land of our Fathers. What I am I missing this time?